when Nisha Tara Saraiya and Nimisha Saraiya returned to the Sundarbans, the change that their efforts have resulted at the Swapnopuron school was clearly visible. What had once been a cluster of bamboo huts has now become a secure school campus, permanent classrooms, a boundary wall and gate, a computer lab with internet access, uniforms for students, and a school bus waiting at the entrance.
For the two teenage sisters and co-founders of the youth-led nonprofit With Our Hearts, this visit marked a new phase in a journey that began years earlier, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and thousands of miles away.
With Our Hearts was born in 2020, when Nisha Tara and Nimisha were still elementary school students in the United States. As online learning became the norm, they began noticing the impact of the digital divide amongst students.
“During the pandemic, online learning became normal for many students like us, but we quickly realised this wasn’t the case for everyone,” Nisha Tara said. “In inner-city Chicago itself, many underprivileged students had effectively dropped out because they didn’t have access to computers or stable internet. That inequity stayed with us.”
That realisation sparked a larger question. “We kept asking ourselves, if this is happening here, what about children in places with even fewer resources?” she said. The first initiative of "With Our Hearts" focused on providing Chromebooks to underprivileged students in Chicago, addressing the digital divide at a moment of crisis.
As the organisation grew, so did its ambitions. The team, which includes founding members Andrew Jain, Alexis Jain, and Gavin Bender; explored education initiatives in Mexico and Africa. Ultimately, they decided to focus their efforts on India’s Sundarbans.
“We had considered other initiatives in Mexico and Africa where education was vulnerable,” Nimisha said. “However, we decided on Sundarbans." The decision was also deeply personal. Their mother grew up in West Bengal, and her familiarity with the region helped the sisters understand its realities beyond data points. “This personal link helped us approach the work with sensitivity and responsibility rather than as outsiders,” Nimisha explained.
In 2023, With Our Hearts identified a school run by the Katakhali Swapnopuron Welfare Society in Taki, West Bengal. That partnership would become the organisation’s most sustained on-ground engagement.
Their first visit to the region in 2023 was sobering. “Our first visit was eye-opening,” Nisha Tara recalled. “The school infrastructure consisted largely of bamboo huts being used as classrooms. There was no access to technology or a computer lab, poor sanitation, and children were mostly walking or cycling to school.”
Families of many students lived in temporary homes made of straw and mud, facing extreme heat, monsoons, and cold winters. “Seeing all this made it clear that meaningful change would require long-term engagement, not one-time support,” Nisha Tara emphasised.
Instead of short-term charity, With Our Hearts adopted an ecosystem approach. “We have spent a lot of our time listening to students, parents, teachers, and the education society to understand the real barriers to learning,” Nimisha said.
Over time, that listening translated into a concrete plan to drive change. Proper classrooms replaced bamboo huts. An air-conditioned computer lab with internet access was set up. Teachers received laptops. Students received winter sweaters as part of their uniforms. A boundary wall and gate were constructed, and a school bus provided safer transportation. A generator ensured continuity during power outages.
“We reached out to Indian companies to help the Katakhali Swapnopuron Welfare Society build the computer lab, provide laptops for teachers, school buses for students, and build a school boundary wall and gate to secure premises” Nimisha said. The goal, she added, was to ensure that “the learning environment supports dignity and aspiration, not just attendance.”
The impact has been measurable. Student enrollment has grown from a few to about 450 now at the main school, reflecting increased trust from families in surrounding villages.
The January 2026 visit focused on academic quality and technology integration. Nisha and Nimisha held detailed sessions with teachers across subjects, while founding members Andrew Jain and Gavin Bender joined virtually from the US. Together, they introduced a technology-integrated curriculum covering digital literacy, safe internet use, basic research skills, Scratch-based coding, presentation tools, professional email etiquette, and spreadsheets.
“This visit was not about bringing a ready-made solution,” said Nisha Tara. “It was about sitting with teachers, understanding their realities, and building something together that truly helps students learn skills they can use beyond the classroom.”
Inside classrooms, however, another challenge became clear. Numbers dropped sharply after Class 6, with only three students remaining in Class 10. Teachers spoke of child labour, domestic responsibilities, and early marriage pulling children out of school.
“Statistics don’t prepare you for the reality,” Nimisha said. “When you see full classrooms in second grade and almost empty ones by tenth grade, you understand how urgent early support and continued engagement really are.”
Despite the challenges, moments of hope stood out. Students from Swapnopuron have won general knowledge and math Olympiads at zonal, regional, and national levels. During the visit, a simple mental math game in a sixth-grade classroom turned into a lesson in confidence for girls in STEM.
“That moment stayed with me,” Nisha Tara said. “It showed how powerful representation and encouragement can be, especially for girls who are often told, indirectly or directly, that they are not as good as boys in math and science.”
For both sisters, the experience has reshaped their understanding of education. “Education is a fundamental right, not a privilege,” Nisha Tara said. “So, driving equity in education is not an option, it’s a necessity for the global society.”
As With Our Hearts and the Katakhali Swapnopuron Welfare Society look ahead to expanding technology access, transportation, and clean water, their partnership continues to be grounded in a simple idea. “Education is not only about books or computers,” Nimisha said. “It is about helping children believe that their future can be different.”
